I'm currently reading the book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" with an unusual ferocity. This is because I can tell the book might help me answer questions about everything that I have been dealing with. It might help me understand my art better, and my life better and everything better.
I'm halfway through and one enormously important thing has been made clear. The book delves deeply into the question of quality. What is "quality"? Now the answer is drawn out over a lot of reading, but the part that I just read really struck me because of how I had an example in my life that fit exactly into what I just read.
What I just read was the distinction between "Quality is just what you like" and "Quality is what you like". The word "just" presupposes that your feelings are of no worth while value, when in truth they are all that matters in judgments of quality.
How this relates to me is my new found ability to make food that I really enjoy. I can actually cook. And it is really easy. I go to the store, buy food that I like, but in pots how I like, cook it how I like and it turns out wonderfully. I pay careful attention to what I'm doing because I care about how it turns out, and I care about the things I like, but it is the easiest thing in the world. Recipes act only as suggestions of what I can make, of how the chemistry works, of what might work. But it really just works when I cook.
Having the reason why my cooking works, while other parts of my creative experience feel like hard drawn out battles against myself is important. It means I know what to do know. I don't have to think hard about things in terms of are they good. I have to think hard about making up lots of ideas an then checking to see if I like them.
Kyler
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